Boho boo hoo
The world traveller look can easily tip over on to the wrong side of the balance
WOMEN of Nicosia beware: this is a high-risk season for the fashion-conscious female. Obviously, if you’re youngish and reasonably neatly proportioned, ideally with a curtain of sunlight-reflecting blonde hair, then you have nothing much to fear.
Long cheesecloth skirt over cork wedges? Why not? Ethnic print dress and a snakepit of Indian jewellery, cotton halterneck and long, floppy skirt? Yeah baby, bring it on!
For the rest of us, though, the continuing vogue for boho with a 1970s flourish is a minefield. If we are to survive the next six months with our dignity intact, we need to approach with caution, tip-toe with trepidation, and then pick and combine like a starlet on the GI diet.
The main worry is that many years of 1970s revivals have coaxed us into a false sense of security. We’ve had the afghan coats, the peasant smocks and the ankle-tied espadrilles in rotation for most of this century; we are so inured to the sight of mirrors and embroidery, Jesus sandals, Birkenstocks and bone-on-a-rope jewellery that there is a real risk that we’ll forget to be vigilant this time around.
And vigilance is crucial in this instance. It gives me no pleasure to say it, but the world traveller look (not as in anti-thrombosis stockings and eye mask, but dirndl skirt with four kinds of beading and layers of wooden necklaces) can tip over from eclectic to embarrassing in the time it takes you to say: ‘How much are those bangles?’
This look relies on artful messiness, a soft and jumbly layered approach that, frankly, most of us are just not up to – apart from the fact that jumble is not the best look on grown-up women. Clean, well-cut and fitted are the qualities we need from our wardrobes, and the cheesecloth bell-sleeved dress worn belted over jeans just doesn’t tick any of those boxes. You might as well shop in Berketex Bride, for all the good it’s going to do.
So, how do you cope with boho if you suspect that you may be a natural candidate? The key is the focus on the less overtly ethnic stuff: Indian print dresses from Zara and kaftan tops embellished with sequins are great on the rail, but take care that you don’t look a little faded in contrast.
Likewise, you want to steer clear of any fabrics that look like tablecloths from Lefkara, and also avoid pom-pom or bell trims, punched Moroccan leather and virginal white. If you must get a sleeveless peasant top, make sure it’s in a soft colour rather than a riot of print and mirrors.
Say no to beading and anything that would look good on a Masai tribesman or a Peruvian llama. And if you are taken with those studded wedges with the rope ties, then ease off on the accessories elsewhere. (Warning: Accessorize has just opened up in Nicosia: please don’t look like the window!)
It is also time – boho natural or not – to ditch those chocolate-brown tiered skirts, studded leather belts, and anything adorned with shell and rabbit gilets.
Everyone say after me: I am not a 23-year-old film star who is going out with the lead actor in Alfie. I am me, and I have my pride…
Bits and beans
TWO new business ventures opened simultaneously last Saturday in Nicosia. Accessorize is a British company which is part of the Monsoon set-up, and Costa, you will all know if you travel to London, is a chain of Italian-style cafés.
With 19 stores already in Greece, including one at Athens airport, the Greek owners of Accessorize have chosen a prime spot in Nicosia (right next door to Le Café) to flaunt its quirky collections. The only comment I can make for the moment is that I hope the stock is kept to a minimum, as it would be very difficult to make an Accessorize item look individual if there are 20 pieces of each style walking around Nicosia, but the staff is friendly (for a change) and you are definitely spoilt for choice.
The Costa brothers opened the first Costa store in London in 1978, and growth expanded at the rate of two stores per year with the help of their family and friends in the business. As with everything else here in Nicosia that has suddenly sprouted up, we now have the pleasure of the Costa company right in the centre of town (in the former Il Giardino building). Admittedly, you can get all coffeed out in this place, and café society has gone way over the top, but Costa is comfortable and informal. And when they start serving wine, it will definitely be a place to chill out.
It’s just a shame that we tend to distort the concept of casual cafés here in Cyprus, but I suppose it goes with the territory, and anyway if the locals didn’t turn them into hilarious fashion shows I suppose I wouldn’t have much to write about…
